If there’s a way to delay menopause, will women jump at the chance? Going by past experience, I might have done just that when I was younger. I’ve been thinking about this because, according to some, it’s already possible to…
If there’s a way to delay menopause, will women jump at the chance? Going by past experience, I might have done just that when I was younger. I’ve been thinking about this because, according to some, it’s already possible to…
Treating patients slowed by Parkinson’s, geriatrician Louise Aronson, MD, sings a chorus of “Happy Birthday” in her head to make sure they have enough time to respond. I’d love a doctor this humane as I head into old age, not…
I’m 84. That’s old and I don’t mind saying so. But for many people, the word old is such a turnoff that, on this website, we generally prefer euphemisms such as older, as in older adults. We don’t use old
My daughter and grandchildren live in the town where I grew up, just a few blocks from my childhood home. Sometimes when I’m visiting them, I drive by that house very slowly or lurk at the curb, motor running, savoring…
Five weeks, 11 cities, 14 book talks, 9 media appearances, 21 regular talks. Phew. I got so tired, it felt as though gravity was messing with me, or as if I’d been inexpertly inflated. It was also exhilarating: a nationwide…
Author and activist Barbara Ehrenreich has long been one of my heroes, and I imagine an affinity in our fondness for myth-busting. In her new book, she describes herself as an “amateur sociologist,” and I thought, “Aha, me too!”
A few weeks ago, I took my decibel meter with me to dinner at one of the restaurants in my retirement community. It was a busy night, and the steady growl of conversation kept rising to a roar. The meter…
In my work as an independent living consultant, I support people who need a little extra help to stay secure in their homes. Most of my clients are older adults. Being a helper-bee at heart, I find the work very…
Maggie, 82, sits on a metal chair across from her new family doctor. “I’ve just been feeling tired lately,” she tells the young MD. “Well, no wonder!” the doc responds. “You’re 82!” Actually, Maggie—who does tai chi, volunteers at an…
Art Russell, 60, counts at least a dozen 20-somethings as friends: the guys he fences with; a 26-year-old colleague at work; and several people who attend his church. Although he also has many friends his own age, Russell values those…
In my last post, I wrote about the regrettable tendency to act as though older people and people with disabilities form two separate groups. When groups within companies don’t share information or knowledge, it’s called a “silo mentality.” It reduces efficiency…
Last year, it finally became obvious that we needed ramps at our summer cabin on Sawdy Pond. The architectural part was straightforward, but it turned out we needed self-examination and conviction to solve a deeper problem. The acres we own…
Many years ago, my husband invented his own hearing aid. Mike was totally deaf on one side—the best hearing device in the world wouldn’t have helped his right ear.
People with disabilities come in all ages, and almost all of us encounter some change in physical or mental capacity as we grow old. Yet, as I wrote in an earlier blog, “We act as though old people never become disabled and…
One of the true classics of American cinema. This backstage drama is as tart and smart and relevant as it was during its initial release in 1950.
A 69-year-old man has petitioned the courts in the Netherlands for the right to say he’s 20 years younger than his actual age: he wants his birth certificate altered to show that he was born in 1949 rather than 1969.…
Every year, American grantmakers donate tens of billions of dollars to nonprofits, to help make the world a better place. Yet only 1 percent of those dollars goes to aging-related projects…
Part 1 of this series of blogs argues that, as a model for growing older, “successful aging” leaves ageism unchallenged or contributes to it. What else is problematic about “successful aging”? There are some insightful answers in a collection of…
Eleven years ago I started a writing project about people over 80 who work. Upbeat! Inspirational! Safe! I didn’t realize it at the time, but it epitomized an approach that has dominated gerontology since the 1980s: “successful aging”—also known as…
Opera star Plácido Domingo made his name as a tenor. …But now, at age 77, Domingo is a baritone.
Ageism, according to the World Health Organization, is “the stereotyping and discrimination against individuals or groups on the basis of their age; ageism can take many forms, including prejudicial attitudes, discriminatory practices or institutional policies and practices that perpetuate stereotypical…
Is ageism inevitable? Is it just plain human to dread old age—and to disparage older people? That’s the conclusion writer Tad Friend comes to in a New Yorker article called “Why Ageism Never Gets Old.” Friend’s article deftly describes how…
The New York Times Magazine opens every Sunday with an essay about what a given word or phrase reveals about the moment. On September 17, 2017, the word was “anti-aging.” The line at the top of the print version read,…
Brace yourself. Devastation is nigh. The “silver tsunami” roars. As the large boomer generation ages, the percentage of older people in America will increase. This will bankrupt government programs, overwhelm health care systems and run adult children into the ground,…
Conventional wisdom doesn’t mean much to Martha Holstein, PhD. “I never set out to be a devil’s advocate,” she says. She just happened to be one. “I always saw the opposite of what other people saw.”
When Ronni Bennett discovered elder playgrounds online a few years ago, she immediately fell in love with the concept.
Warren Wood is old. He’s proud he’s old. He advertises the fact that he is old by wearing a cap that says UFO in red letters. “What’s UFO?” people ask. “United Flying Octogenarians,” Wood, 86, of Carmel, CA, happily responds.…
For people sensitive to words and the connection of words, beliefs and behaviors, the last linguistic battle was probably against sexism in language—the so-called “generic he,” the misuse of “girl,” the exclusionary words like “chairman” and “statesman,” the rise of “Ms.” as a title.
Author and activist Ashton Applewhite has been recognized by the New York Times, National Public Radio, and the American Society on Aging as an expert on ageism. She blogs at This Chair Rocks, speaks widely, and is the author of…
You hear people say “I wish I were young again” all the time. Yet I’ve never met anyone who would actually choose to move their game piece back on the board.
The Internet is notorious for commenters who feel grossly entitled to dismiss vulnerable others. This past summer, Harvard University hit hard against racist and sexist speech on Facebook, rescinding admissions to some potential first-year students.
“We are aged more by culture than by chromosomes,” Margaret Gullette writes in this passionate indictment of the American attitude to aging.
A century ago, Americans didn’t need programs to connect the generations: homes and communities housed people of all ages. But as people started living longer and moving into cities, we started thinking differently about those at both ends of the…
A friend of mine recently questioned something she read on this website that presented what she called “a depressing view of aging.”
For years, Henry Cisneros watched his father, George, live an active life with limited mobility. A stroke at the age of 59 had left the elder Cisneros without the use of his left arm and left leg. But parts of his house were modified to accommodate his limited mobility. He was able to live there, with his wife, Elvira, in the home and close-knit neighborhood where they’d raised their children, until two years before he died in 2006 at age 89.
The World Health Organization (WHO) is in the public health business, and no organization has done more to raise awareness of ageism—the biggest obstacle to meeting the challenges of population aging.
AARP’s #DisruptAging site has some commendable goals: to “hold a mirror up to the ageist beliefs around us,” and “change the stories we tell ourselves about aging.” In other words, as they put it, to “disrupt aging”—which also just happens to…
The beloved aging king and the old hag; the silver sage and the wise woman; the doddering old fool and the spinster sisters; the venerated grandpa and the irreverent great-aunt; the wicked old witch and the beautiful young queen.
Ageist comments have been made about two leading 2016 presidential contenders so far—both of whom are older than what is considered to be the middle-aged bracket.
The cruel irony in American culture: we’re living longer, but stereotypes about decline begin earlier.